Judge dismisses "insufficient" copyright claims in Destiny 2 cheating case:
When game makers go to court to stop cheat makers, they often rely on claims that the cheat tools represent a form of copyright infringement on the original game. Last week, though, a federal judge dismissed such copyright claims in a case against a Destiny 2 cheat maker, saying developer Bungie has "not pleaded sufficient facts to plausibly allege that [the cheat maker] copied constituent elements of Bungie's work."
[...] In its initial complaint, Bungie alleged that the Aimjunkies cheat software is "identical or substantially similar to the copyrighted works [i.e., Destiny 2]." It also alleges that Aimjunkies' tools "infringe Bungie's Destiny Copyrights by copying, producing, preparing unauthorized derivative works from, distributing and/or displaying Destiny 2 publicly, all without Bungie's permission."
In a ruling obtained by Torrentfreak, though, Western District of Washington Judge Thomas Zilly notes that Bungie has "not pleaded any facts explaining how the cheat software constitutes an unauthorized copy of any of the copyrighted works identified in the complaint." Simply alleging that copyright infringement happened is not enough, Judge Zilly writes, citing precedent to assert that "Bungie's complaint must contain more than a 'formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action.'"
Furthermore, Judge Zilly says that Bungie's own Destiny 2 license agreement prevents the company from making a federal case out of many of Aimjunkies' alleged bad acts. Under that license agreement, arguments regarding technical circumvention of technological protection measures, trafficking in circumvention technology, breach of contract, and unjust enrichment must be referred back to arbitration rather than argued before the courts, Judge Zilly writes (Bungie seems to have acknowledged this fact via a voluntary filing in February).
(Score: 3, Insightful) by janrinok on Thursday May 05 2022, @09:43AM (1 child)
So, effectively, he is asking them why they have brought the case before him when they actually said that court action could not be used to resolve such cases.
I wonder if they employed a lawyer and, if so, do they still employ him/her?
(Score: 2) by looorg on Thursday May 05 2022, @11:57AM
Probably unless it moved onto some other corp lawyer job. It was probably standard lawyer text at the time they wrote it, and then it was probably a standard text in general that they just slapped on there while changing the name of the product more or less.
That said arbitration only works if both parties are willing and able. When it fails, like it apparently did here when one party (the aimjunkies) didn't respond or respond in a timely fashion. Also I guess they feel that during arbitration it's easier to just pay the little guy off or to bully him with all your fancy lawyer-power. I'm not sure where the aimjunkie-cheaters are located either so they could be in some other part of the world far away from Bungie. So where to arbitrate then? It's not like someone is voluntarily going to show up in the US for a legal proceeding while at the same time the fancy corp lawyers probably doesn't want to fly to some remote location and court system in farfarawayistan either.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 05 2022, @11:53AM (2 children)
Seems like the gaming company should get a refund
from their lawyers?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 05 2022, @01:23PM (1 child)
so many lawyers advertise no win no pay on compo cases, yet courts often award costs against the losing party.
yet TFS only mentions frivilous claims by Bungie, so i guess that places it squarely on the lawyers doing too little to get paid.
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Thursday May 05 2022, @02:20PM
A better, more gooder deal.
If the lawyer wins, you pay him.
If the lawyer loses, he pays you.
How often should I have my memory checked? I used to know but...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 05 2022, @04:08PM
People are playing the Destiny without Cayde?